"Than whom America has no abler military leader." — Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy, 1919.

Gen. Lejeune assumed command of the Fourth Brigade (U. S. M. C.) July 26, 1918. On July 29. 1918, he became Commanding General, Second Division. Gen. Lejeune's citation for the Army Distinguished Service Medal is as follows:

"He commanded the Second Division in the successful operations of Thiaucourt, Massif Blanc Mont, St. Mihiel, and on the west bank of the Meuse. In the Argonne-Meuse offensive his division was directed with such sound military judgment and ability that it broke and held, by the vigor and rapidity of execution of its attack, enemy lines which had hitherto been considered impregnable."

HEADQUARTERS U. S. MARINE CORPS

Washington, August 25, 1921

IMMEDIATELY upon the outbreak of the World War, thousands of the finest of young Americans sought service in the Marine Corps. Its slogan " First to Fight " — a quotation from the Marines' Hymn — attracted the adventurous spirit of America's youth, and its ranks were filled with men of splendid physique, unusual intelligence, and high ideals.

These young men brought to the Corps a fine enthusiasm, an intense energy, and an eager desire to meet and defeat the enemy without delay. They received from it the benefit of the practical knowledge and experience of the old time Marine, and the wonderful esprit de corps which had been handed down from generation to generation.

From this combination there resulted the Fifth and Sixth Regiments and the Sixth Machine Gun Battalion. These organizations bear on their colors the names of Bois de Belleau and Bouresches, Soissons, St. Mihiel, Blanc Mont Ridge and St. Etienne-a-Arnes, and Meuse-Argonne.

The record of these regiments has never been surpassed. No regiments fought harder or more victoriously, and no regiments of the American Expeditionary Forces suffered heavier losses. Their endurance, their skill, their valor and their victories have immortalized their names and the name of the Marine Corps.